The chief executive of food giants Greggs has revealed his latest challenge – switching to a vegan diet.
Roger Whiteside, who has been at the helm of the Newcastle bakery and food-on-the-go firm for seven years, used to prefer a fresh Greggs sausage roll – the company’s biggest selller – over its relatively new vegan sausage roll version.
However, the business leader, who has overseen the firm’s strategy to convert the firm from a traditional high street bakery to a popular food-on-the-go brand, has now revealed he has switched to a vegan diet.
He said: “If you’d asked me three weeks ago which roll I preferred I would have said the original sausage roll, but I’m now attempting to live on a vegan diet.
“I was encouraged to watch a film on Netflix called The Gamechangers – I watched it and thought this is interesting.
“Obviously there are arguments based around animal welfare and the environment, but this was all about the health benefits, and I thought I should give it a go.
“Avoiding meat is easy. The problem is avoiding dairy, avoiding milk and cheese is almost impossible. It would be okay if I had time to cook, but I don’t, so I have to have things that are quick and easy.”
Mr Whiteside said he’s currently making his way through the Greggs’ vegan range, which the firm is looking to expand, potentially adding vegan versions of other bestsellers like its steak bake.
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“We’ve got the award-winning vegan wrap which I have quite frequently, and the vegan sausage roll which I’ll have once a week, and now we have the sweet choice with the vegan sweet mince pie.”
His comments came as he was crowned this year’s North East Business Executive of the Year at the Journal-backed awards event, held at The Boiler Shop in Newcastle.
Since taking over as CEO of Greggs seven years ago, Mr Whiteside’s strategy has ensured the company has become one of the biggest names in its sector.
The firm is now number three for coffee after beating Starbucks, number two for breakfasts behind McDonald’s and it has just overtaken Tesco’s for sandwich lunches.
He said the company’s strategy of making sure Greggs shops were in places of convenience for customers – everywhere from train stations and office parks to retail parks – was paying off.
But he said there is still much work for him to do.
He said: “It’s been seven years since I took over as CEO and we’ve spent all that time transforming the business in all sorts of way, obviously refocusing the business away from traditional bakery to the growing food-on-the-go market. But really all that time has been spent on getting to the start line and what comes next for Greggs is to build on that platform to become truly multi-channel in a digital age.
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“And there’s so much opportunity to do that, serving customers at all times of the day, everywhere, in every way they want when they’re looking for food and drink away from home.
“We’ve already started investing in these new channels – delivery of food, click and collect food, drive-thru lanes, food to order – all of those things are there to be developed by Greggs now.
“It’s a business that’s grown to be very successful at business and lunch but the one time of day where we don’t really compete yet fully intend to is the evening.
“We’re about 5% of the food-on-the-go market so that’s 95% more to shoot at – and that doesn’t count the adding of stores.
“As well as being market leaders in bakery, which you’d expect with our heritage, we’re becoming market leaders in areas you’d never have thought of. So we’re already well on the way.”
He added: “Put all those things together and what lies ahead is even more exciting than what we’ve achieved so far. There’s lots to look forward to.”